In 1964 Judy Collins recorded Billy Edd Wheeler’s haunting song “Winter Sky”. I probably heard it about 10 years later, but it has been the accompaniment to all of my winter ramblings for the past 40 years. The lyric about death and rebirth echoes my feelings during the darkest and coldest days of winter: there’s a melancholy there, for sure, but the hope of spring and new life buoys me up. Judy’s version is beautiful, of course, but I recently came across this recording of Billy Edd singing his song. His simple presentation of this moving song is worth a listen:
Some of Montana’s winter skies from this past week:
Off the Beaten Path: Hikes, Backpacks, and Travels 
Wow, enjoying your photos of lovely cool snow. Here in Outback Australia we are currently swelltering in a heat wave. At 10am this morning it was 91F and the expected top is 109F – and it is blowing a hot desert wind – yuck.
Oh, that is indeed too hot. Just love that you’re looking at my stuff from so far away…this blogging thing is pretty darned cool that way!
Wow, what a song! Simple, evocative – and, as you say, haunting. I’m downloading it from Amazon, thanks!
That’s great. So glad you like it.
Love the song and love the photos.
Thank you.
I’ve known the Judy Collins version for decades, but it’s great to hear Billy Edd Wheeler singing his own song. Often the writers of songs get little or no recognition, so it’s good to redress the balance here. Apparently he’s still alive, and I found this article about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Edd_Wheeler
Thanks to the person who posted that youtube version, too! It does certainly seem that songwriters deserve more recognition, doesn’t it Thanks for posting the link, too – I bet 99 out of 100 folks think that Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash wrote “Jackson”!
You’ve just given me an idea: the live music industry should promote a policy asking people who perform music they didn’t compose to announce who the composers are. In concerts I’ve sometimes heard performers sometimes do that, but it should become standard procedure, like identifying the author of a passage quoted in writing.
Wow great photos! Nice post.
Here in Tucson there is no snow on the ground, but the winter sky is beautiful with the sun low to the horizon. Thanks for sharing.
That song covers all types of winter skies, doesn’t it?